Cough

Yes, i've been doing a lot of that lately, the meds seem to be helping though, let's see how it goes.

The merc is hurt, as i'm going through checks and such, one thing another is not as it should be. Running a little hot, so let's just check the thermostat, perhaps it's been gunged up. So as i'm taking the bolts out, one breaks, sheared bolts are a nightmare. I manage to get the two halfs apart, leaving a short bit if the bolt to try work with. Alas no, the bolt had been GLUED in. No wonder i couldn't get it out. At this point i can now investigate the thermostat. There isn't one. 

I am getting a thermostat before day out, and we're going to see if we can get a new housing too, it's bady worn. I had the one carb open yesterday too, despite having been completely overhauled, the floater was not working properly, and i had petrol spewing all over the engine. 

I have to add something here though. I'm doing all the donkey work, but without a father in law on the phone 2/3 times a day, my own father helping with advice and know how, and other friends who are passionate enough to help any way they can, i would still be stuck.

I'm off now to go finish the fence, and make additional re-inforcing the the gate. It's sagging from the weight. Once i've put it all together, we'll paint is white, so it matches the walls, should also help stop the wood from degrading too fast. Then just tidying up, i've made quite a mess so far!!

A quick news flash though, from motoring.co.za.

The gist is that speed cameras have a negative affect on driving, and that the removal of those cameras actually improves the levels of driving. Go figure. 

Lol peace and love, and no auld lang syne ok? It's not good. But look out for the blue moon. Enjoy crazy time :D

She runs!

A 1969 Mercedes Benz 6 cylinder, without exhaust pipe, sounds remarkably like a Harvard aeroplane :D

Not to mention the adrenaline rush on hearing the recently rebuilt engine firing to life. Man triumphs over minerals, it's phenomenal really. Obviously, much to still be done, tighten and tweak and double check and test. She was really in a terrible state, water and oil mixing is death to cars, and i'm nothing if not grateful that she seems to be over the worst. *chuckle* now i'm sitting worrying about which nut i didn't tighten properly!!

Light white smoke, not hugely, is typical for a recently rebult engine, i'm told. There was enough crud caked in the manifold and pistons. I have to take her for a good burn, round JHB once should do (+-100km), and flush everything, again. Then ride nicely for 1000 km, then ... well she should be as good as new.

Lots to do, 2 weeks to get her running, and probably the rest of my life to get her RIGHT. SHe sounds beautiful, runs sweetly, and hints at massive power when you tweak the accelerator. She needs a new accelerator pedal, i'm thinking wood. An automatic, she has 2 pedals, the brake is a nice shiny steel, and a warm wood pedal would both contrast and enhance nicely. Easy enough, just getting the mechanism right. 

I owe a lot of pics here, truth be told, i have been so busy, internet time such has become an afterthought. Nicely done, i think. Hopefully getting to the coast next week, in which case i shall not even take a cellphone. Perhaps, detoxing and quitting smoking is possible. It's my goal. 

Of course i've gotten sick, first honest day's work in years and my body doesn't know what to do about it. Typical, hehe. 

me again

It came and went, wasn't too bad though. A houseful of happy people, a well used swimming pool, and sated kids. My granny reminded me of something my grandad used to say: " Beautiful from the front, but so lovely from behind." Oh yes, i miss his gentle kindness.

I've been up to my neck in mercedes benz, just me and Hans, that engineer from the factory in the 60's. I think i shall name her Bertha. Big old bitch, like a grand aunt. We discovered the problem, the head gasket was incorect. I'm not sure who is more angry, the old man, my old man, or me. Such a stupid thing to have done, and damn near cost the car an engine. Fortunately the damage seems minimal, the sooner we get her running the better. So not only was the piston seal totally not there, causing burning through the gasket, but the monkey put it on wrong. Bent it on inserting the head. I'll bet money the mechanic just gave the easy old car to the appy, some stupid schuck.

It's ok, we have evidence now. The main fear was since i opened the head, any mechanic would immediately deny liability, and keep his fee. Now, we have the wrong gasket with evidence of ham handedness. He will have to accept responsibility. 

My father is a mechanic, a very good one, who has helped so much already. We disagree on a lot though, like he believes one should take cars to experts, i say, look at how they mess it up too. I feel better if i make a mistake, which i pay for, rather than paying someone else to make a mistake, which i would pay for. But the one thing he has taught me, and that we agree on entirely, is that motor mechanics is a precise art, with a right way, and a wrong way. Even a silly boy like me can repair this great engineering marvel, with the right tools, information, and mind set. Even better is you can't get a big head about it, because unless you are humble, the machine will eat you for breakfast. It's a great leveller.

As to the rest, well i'm just keeping busy, one day at a time, and so far as possible avoiding any and all disturbances from the great out there. I think i'm even having fun :)

today

I didn't get my bike ride, too damn sore and tired!!! Have to be sharp to enjoy it, otherise you're just hanging on and hoping ... hehehe

It's ok, i owe myself a ride now. Still owe the woman one, so maybe a long ride early one morning. Out to Ventersdorp maybe, or Koster, that's a lovely road, with long sweeping turns through open farmland. You can see for miles.

My present for the day, 5 sunspot activity regions. It's still ticking over, warming us day to day. Expect electrical appliances to be ... to have personality *wink*

Jethro Tull is good xmas music, fun and playful and fluty and sweet. Going to have a houseful of people all day, so off for a skinny dip and a wake up :D

peace and goodwill to all men woman children animals plants minerals atoms and politicians.

Zuma and CHESS?

Right, this is me eating humble pie, and giving credit where it is due.

IOL

President Jacob Zuma will take part in the KwaZulu-Natal Chess Tournament in his home town, Nkandla, on Tuesday.

"The tournament has been organised at the request of the president in order to teach the youth patience and strategic thinking, and to promote recreational activity in rural areas," said presidential spokesman Vincent Magwenya in a statement.

He said Zuma was a chess player and wanted to see the game rolled out across KwaZulu-Natal communities because it required minimal infrastructure.

The event is scheduled to start at 2pm on Tuesday. - Sapa
_________________________________________________________

I want to see more of exactly this.

The Moment Of Truth

By Fidel Castro at informationclearinghouse

Wow, his remarks are minor, he basically just highlighted what Hugo Chaves and Evo Morales had to say in their speech. Damned sight more relevant that anything obamaman had to say.

Go read it, a wonderful counterpoint to the hype, and a view of some of earth's people.

more of the same

This is an *update* to MY life ... glorious and glamorous though it isn't *grin*

So i'm home, working harder than at any point in the year so far. Nice. Stripped the bar of the wooden panelling, it was just packing crates really, previous owner had done a nice job, but we're upgrading the room, fixing the leaks, and building a wall where now is prefab material.

And we ended up with a TON of wood planks. Sadly not great wood, all rough and with nails in, but i'm making boxes out of it. Packing crate type things, huge, and solid enough, and quite clever, i think. The first one looks really ROUGH, but that's fine, i've got my model. Now i can select the better wood, and make a better box. WIth a lid, and rope handles. At a metre and a half long, and almost a metre wide, useful for all manner of things i hope. 

My brother lent me his remote controlled helicopter, YAY! SO i have a toy to play with, and an empty bar area, to play in. Things are looking up indeed!!

The merc is the big beige problem, with rust setting in, time is of the essence. Another round trip of JHB to get the right tool, a torch, and back at the problem this afternoon. Stuck as a pooh bear in a piglet hole, i said to myself. At a guess, from all the sealing compounds found on every join, i'm guesing that the guy put too much on the head gasket, enough to smear, and block somewhere in the block. Don't know yet, only one way to find out ...

Family is off at the zoo, a very good thing to be doing today. Wonderful time of year, and yesterday it poured with rain all day, clearing around eve, so the ground is moist and cool. Lots to do today, so first a joint, then action!! ;-D

peace and love

Holy-days

Yup they're upon us. I'm home, in great pains, thanks to these 21st century torture devices the butcher has installed in my mouth. About all anyone can say is: You'll get used to them. Hmmmm. I'm sure the sufferers in the tower of London told each other the same thing about leg-irons.

The kids, well i'm not rightly sure where they are. Friends is the generic answer. But which one at any point is a bit of a mystery. They'll come flying through myhouse for an hour before running off elsewhere, usually without a by your leave. I've been warned that we wil be reciprocating, so a house full of kids is in my future ..... 

My son, oh dear me i'm so proud of him. Wet onto the roof recently, found both Jupiter AND Beelejuice, all by himself. Of course, the one moves and the other doesn't, i love the old fashioned term for planets: Wandering stars. So when these clouds clear we'll be doing more stargazing together, if he's home long enough! (PS does anyone have contacts for telescope lenses, i have a complete telescope and tripod, minus the one front lens, without which it's as useful as a glass window, if you do, please let me know where i can find? Thanks!)

I'm spending some time online, just keeping up with news. Copenhagen stinks. All of it. From the uttery bizarre welcome sky to the free prostitutes to the utterly shameful agenda of these world parasites. But what you see above is NOT a failed rocket launch. Despite hastily corrected press statements by the Russian military. The above photograph was apparently confirmed to have used a 3 minute shutter speed, no, not a tourist (?). My first guess was hologram, and i'm still hoping it's only that. The other guess is something far more sinister, a new propulsion system? New anti missile tech? It's worth mentioning that Norway has it's own HAARP array called EISCAT pretty much when the blue beam touches down. Buebeam *shudder* ... google it. 

At about the same time in CERN the LHC kicked off for the first time ever. 

All should leave Geneva.
Saturn turns from gold to iron,
The contrary positive ray (RAYPOZ) will exterminate everything,
There will be signs in the sky before this.

Thanks to Mostradamus for this little pearl of wisdom. And i haven't seen anything, just caught a rumour that th first tests were successful, and strongly resembled the above spiral. I'll keep an eye on that one.

My blog counter keeps climbing, each time i refresh it, about once a day, it's climbed by at least 10 ... wow!! Welcome all you information surfers, hope you like what you see. My spelling is fine, it's my typing that sux, i blame the keyboard :D 

Say hi in comments, i notice more little towns in SA jumping up on the ma, hi to Kimberley, someone. But further than that, all over the world people visit me, Alaska, India, plenty in the states, of course, and europe too. I dig it. ;D

Oh, and my 1 plan this holiday is the xmas morning run, concrete highway at 5AM. If you wanna join me it could be fun!!! If you can keep up, of course!

peace and love all over the pretty blue planet

Climategate

I promised a post on this wonderful piece of deception, and when i logged in today i found the perfect inspiration. Mr Anthony Watt (wattsupiththat.com) should be knighted.

His blog started as an exercise in confirming the accuracy of surface station temperature records across the US. Confirming that the thermometres and such were all correctly placed, and so on. A private project. He uncovered station after station were affected by carparks, airports, buildings and such.  All positevely affected of course, wrt the temperature.

He started allowing guest posts because certain trips took several days, which left little time for his blog, which was becoming very popular. A Mr Willie Essenbach poted on the 8th December about the Darwin temperature record, Darwin Australia that is. And you can read the bombshell here.

The global warming argument has become scientific truth, with undisuted facts and scientific consensus to this human inflicted disaster to be. Or so we are told. The need for urgent action should be of conern, since it proposes to govern waste, carbon waste, carbon dioxide. You as human create carbon dioxide, your car, your house, your body. So the earth is warming dramatically and it's YOUR fault. WE must act. WE must stop producing this stuff. WE should pay for the priveledge, and then WE will use less. WE should pay more TAXES. 

Yes. So the whole global warming thing is led by ali gori, a middle eastern scientist. He claims that icecaps melting, increased occurence and severity of storms and all other disasters shall befall mankind unless we sacrifice to the climate god. Ali shall be his man on earth. Our sacrifices should take the form of a small donation, each time we exhale, or fart, or buy something, and that money, shall go towards the coffers of the climategod, who will send more prophets around the world, in private jets, with free prostitutes, and police escorts, to tell us who we have sinned against gaia.

Science is mankind's greatest achievement. The ordering of all the things we know, and the search to discover that which we do not. It commands respect from all, since it stands above mankind, as a shrine to the universe, in wonder and complexity. Science has rules, which may not be broken. We live and work within these, knowing that the sun will rise tomorrow, and that gravity will rescue us from flights of fancy. Mr Einstein knew the dangers of science, and even more so, the dangers of political power over science.

Global climate changes. Everything changes. All the time. That's one of the few things in ts incarnation that I'M sure of. Things change. The 3 main indicators of glogal warming i would think, would be: 

Carbon dioxide levels

Sea levels

Temperature

Now CO2 levels are measured in ppm, parts per million. They number between 300-400 over the last few years. Thay have increased steadily worldwide over the last few years, fossil fuel use being the most likely cause. Not a huge volume though, and plants love it. If the increase in CO2 becomes truly tragic for us humans, plant will thrive. But Thanks to ice core data, we know CO2 levels stretching back millions of years. From Wiki:

"Five hundred million years ago carbon dioxide was 20 times more prevalent than today" It certainly was NOT 20 times hotter. So even if we humans DOUBLE the CO2 in the atmosphere, it would not contribute greatly to the temperature, since there was still ice on the planet, which we can now test, to compare ...

American thinker has an excellent piece on CO2, by a politician no less.

Johannesburg is one of 2 major cities in the world not built on a major waterway, the other is in Russia, a scientific town. Rising sea levels would affect almost half the planet, i am guessing ...

Which makes it great that they aren't rising. There's this picture taken on the`Isle of the Dead', Tasmania. According to Antarctic explorer, Capt. Sir James Clark Ross, it marked mean sea level in 1841. Funny that the it's right at sea level, today. That John Daly sight is a brilliant one, an australian amateur scientist, now deceased, who seemed to know exactly how is it is, wrt climate science as long ago as 2004. 

Look dead centre, a star carved into the stone.

Then we have the recent cabinet meeting underwter, by the Maldives government. They are a very low lying set of islands, "with the highest point only some 2.5m (8ft) above sea level" so if the sea rises, they're first. Which  again very fortunate, because they aren't sinking or being covered or anything like that. Nils-Axel Mörner, a sea level specialist, has written several times to the president, with no response hence thois open letter, to re-assure him that: 

"By the end of this century, sea level may have risen by between 30cm and 50cm according to the various IPCC scenarios. Our records suggest a maximum of 20cm. Neither of those levels would pose any real problem — simply a return to the situation in the 17th and the 19th to early 20th centuries, respectively."

The Catlin Arctic Suvey was another very good example of how not to do science. With multiple descrepencies in both their method and the interpretations. Funded by the Royal Society, sad really. The highlight was of course a bunch of idealistic yuppies being surprised how cold it was, and inhospitable. I could have warned them about that. But what we know about ice is that it's all still there. Whether or not large shelves of Antarctica fall off is at this point irrelevant. See my point about change, above. The temperatures are as cold as they always have been, and snow fall is around the same too.

You know what kills more polar bears than any single other thing? guns. 

Climategate is the resulting mess of what appears to be a leaked set of files and emails, from th University of East Anglia, by persons unknown, and left on  Russian ftp server, which is known for having hosted "hacked" data before. These documents revealed absolute proof that the scientists had lied, colluded, conspired and hidden data upon which they had based their findings. I am not getting into the various temperature records, see the article by Mr Essenbach for that, bu they are the weathermen, charged with the management of weather records worldwide. 

The data that they were hiding was the same that made up the worldwide temperature leap graph that has become a political mascot. So it was a graph upon which Copenhagen now meets to make sweeping changes to our lives. Why hide it though? IF global warming is real, any decent records would show the increase in temperature? The answer is quite astounding, the global trend over the last few years has been steadily downward. 

Now we don't know diddly about climate yet anyway, at best we can watch it, and try learn. Leading edge thought at the moment regarding climate is that the single greatest influence is sunspots. The more sunspots, the more excited the atmosphere and the warmer it gets. Well, it appears that the earth has cooled slightly recently, and hey, the sunpots haven't been out either. Well that's the start ... you'd have to go back a few hundred years for ny meaningful correlation, but people are doing it, and being surprised by what they find.

But that takes records, on this day the temperature was bl00dy freezing and it snowed all day, so we don't know what the sunspot count was ... get my drift? These weathermen changed the data. Basically put it through mathemetial equations to "homogenise" or "correct" the data. These adjustments are usually done when there is a major change, new equipment, or te recording site moves, and so on.

In the case of Darwin, Australia, the difference between actual recoded temperatures, and what these weathermen was using and showing, is best shown in this graphic from thedogatemydata :

Last day

Today is my last working day for the year. Thank the gods, all of them, including the lesser ones, and throw in the elementals. And the faeries.

This is going to be the longest leave i have ever taken in my working life. About a month. I'm not going anywhere, but i know there is plenty of work waiting for me at home. 

I start tomorrow with having all of my teeth pulled out. Plastic inserts put in. I'm trying realy hard not to think about that bit. But, this pain will cease, and i'll be able to chew my vegetables again, small mercies indeed.

I have a pool to maintain, grass to keep cut, kids to amuse, stairs to build, builders to watch, and a bike to ride, sometimes. I hope to not see too many people, but that is rather short sighted me thinks. There will be varied and many trampers of my halls. 

I haven't gotten round to making a post about CLIMATEGATE. Maybe i will later, maybe over the holidays, i'll have a small amount of internet, which i'm going to be greatful for. Can't switch off completely you know? Well, i'd like to, but i doubt it would be practical.

With regards climategate, google it, really. Global warming is a farce, and anyone who advocates it t this point is being criminal. Crimes against humanity would be apt. Burn them, maybe then they'll get their heat ... hot enough for them?

Thats it folks. I'll be around, and about. May you all have a wonderful season ... it is a good time for taking a deep breath.

peace and love

Weekend

I did the Kassie run on saturday, got more pictures than i know what to do with. Basically delivered a whole bunch of toys to different homes in the soweto and jo'burg south area.

A very long day, we quit around half past 2, since we had a birthday party to get to. I was like a cook in bag chicken by the time we were done. I had my son with me, and another guy by the name of Kevin had his, similar age. Of course the 2 kids hit it off and were inseperable for the day. Throw in cameras (thank you Makro) and the event was WELL recorded!!!

We started at theFreedom Square Hotel in Kliptown, Soweto. Firstly, well done to the staff. The 50 odd bikers present were treated to a 5 star start to the day. Their enthusiasm and support of our delivery run was phenomenal, and they added a very memorable experience. The Freedom Square itself was astounding, i'll post some pics later, but the architecture was so fresh and alive it took me quite by surprise. Textures everywhere, the walls, the fencing, the paving, metal inlays in the walls, it all just took your senses in a whirlpool of visual texture technicolour. 

Oops, i forgot the pics at home. Here's a web advert view.

That brick tower contains a freedom charter wall map thing. The whole square contras so greatly with the other side of the road, where fruit and veg sellars ply their trade off broken tables. The hotel doorman had a vuvuzela (not going to say it) and when he blew on it ... well it echoed, greatly. I had the impression the entire soweto could hear .... *chuckle* but the bikes made their own bid, and left pretty circles on the street outside, so all's well.

Riding around is eye opening. I realised with a light start that i'd never been into soweto in summer before. Now i've been there a whole bunch of times, for many different reasons. Most memorable was the truth commision, at Regina Mundi church, in the dead of winter, and i didn't have transport every day, so had to catch taxi's. It was cold and miserable, and generally that's soweto in winter. As the Transvaal highveld is, dead as land an be. Drab and dull, and generally burning ... but in summer a new face presents. I was surprised at the greenery. Certainly there has been a lot of effort to green the area. 

One of my little observations ... in soweto, all the children's parks are clean. In nearby Eldorado park, they aren't. Our travels took us through some of the poorer areas, and it was heartbreaking. It's always the kids though. These pikkanins, all less than 5 or 6 years old, who stare at you as you go by. There faces full of wonder and amazement at the bikes. I imagine a similar response we'd have to seeing an angel float down the street.

High's and lows. Highs at the orphanages, lows in the street. Throwing toys out the back of a pickup truck, and watching both children and adults running for all they are worth. I dunno, intentions were good, and i wish to hell i could do more for them. All the kids loved their little presents so much. It was emotionally quite rough. 

Kudos to every single biker that gave. All i can do is urge every single person who reads this. Buy something. A toy, a make up kit, some crayons, sports toys, whatever, and go give it to someone. Here in sa it's easy, poor people on every street corner. I saw a kid begging yesterday, a sunday, on a major intersection. The guy was about 8? And he had his cardboard sign and a cup. No adult to be seen, but i think they would have been in the shade. That's my next mission i think. Drive around and find kids begging, and give them something. Not money, toys, crayons, anything that is for THEM. 

peace and love

Whale Song

Taken from : Wired.com

All around the world, blue whales aren’t singing like they used to, and scientists have no idea why.

The largest animals on Earth are singing in ever-deeper voices every year. Among the suggested explanations are ocean noise pollution, changing population dynamics and new mating strategies. But none of them is entirely convincing.

“We don’t have the answer. We just have a lot of recordings,” said Mark McDonald, president of Whale Acoustics, a company that specializes in the sonic monitoring of cetaceans.

McDonald and his collaborators first noticed the change eight years ago, when they kept needing to recalibrate the automated song detectors used to track blue whales off the California coast. The detectors are triggered by songs that match a particular waveform. Every year, McDonald had to set them lower.

Since then, he and Scripps Institution of Oceanography researchers Sarah Melnick and John Hildebrand have gathered thousands of blue whale recordings made since the 1960s, spanning populations from the North Atlantic to the South Pacific to the East Indian Ocean. Their analysis, published in October in Endangered Species Research, shows that the songs’ tonal frequency is falling every year by a few fractions of a hertz.
______________________________________________________

Go read the whole article, it's startling. I don't see it as a negative in any way. But proof that nature is adapting faster than we can keep track. These vastly intelligent beings are under assault from every direction, most notably noise, shipping and such, but more than that, ship sonar is on their frequency, and obviously creates confusion amongst them.

But they've been fixing their problem all by themselves, since the sixties, before we even realised there was a problem.

God they're beautiful.

Thank you Ara

“How is one to live a moral and compassionate existence when one is fully aware of the blood, the horror inherent in life, when one finds darkness not only in one’s culture but within oneself? If there is a stage at which an individual life becomes truly adult, it must be when one grasps the irony in its unfolding and accepts responsibility for a life lived in the midst of such paradox. One must live in the middle of contradiction, because if all contradiction were eliminated at once life would collapse. There are simply no answers to some of the great pressing questions. You continue to live them out, making your life a worthy expression of leaning into the light.” [Barry Lopez]

http://theoasisofmysoul.com/?p=10587

life

Edited in the interests of good taste.

We apologise for the interuption.

My marshalls

Unlikely looking bunch hey? 

Black Panther, Lycan and Scorpius ... animals the lot of them!

Hard at work ... This was half the job ... just keeping an eye on things, something was lacking at the other starts. Well done guys !!!

Jaydene and Tessa ... she rides Barney, i mean Tarmac .... and Maya (SV650) and the red 125 honda scrambler. Not at thesame time though.

The bike ....Formerly Tarmac, rechristened Barney, what a beautiful little machine. Oops, i'm getting ahead, bikes coming up later :D

Toyrun ...

Yeah, there'll be a lot more :)

This is me ... and of course my loving daughter, Jaydene, setting up the tape before all the masses arrive. I would imagine she was the most popular person there. 

Small and insignificant in the background. Thats me. Nice though, always seem to have support right next to me. Just a damn shame can only take 1 kid at a time, i believe sidecars can take 4 people ... 2 up and 2 in. Fazer sidecar anyone?

Thanks Irondad

Toyrun feedback

Hmmmmmmmmm - this is a hard post, cos it's almost bragging. I did it. the planning paid off and the run WORKED.

Couldn't have done it without all the marshalls, and the committee, and metro and even the riders, who for the most part worked with us.

Bu i'm sitting here, reflecting, and the e-mails are going round full of congratulations. I want to include them, maybe i shouldn't. 

I made a plan, and it worked. The small bikes as a group in front, the trikes and sidecars following, and then the masses of bikes. Keeping them apart, giving the smaller bikes pride of place, having ride leaders who kept the speed at a friendly pace for the smaller guys. Like a puzzle i've been playing with pieces for months, and it worked. My responsibility was to get everyone there safely and we did.

Ok, i do need to include these small quotes, because i had an axe to grind and i ground it PROPER. South African bikers are generally a bunch over over testosteroned children, who haven't got anything more to say about biking than BIGGER IS BETTER. They're also arrogant fools a lot of the time, and truly do look down on small bikes. A scooter, or 250cc motorcycle is not a bike, and the rider not a biker, and frankly they must just BE out the way of their MEN'S MACHINES. I however, disagree, of course. 

The smaller bikes are either one of the following:

New rider - teenagers and ladies, they are still nervous, inadequately trained and more likely to panic. 

Poor rider - those who buy a motorbike because it is all they can afford, they have no passion for it, yet, and it's a utilitarian matter. They do no research, buy no gear, and often dislike the bike.

Normal guy - These are your average Vespa riders, they are trained, enthusiastic and capable, yet still face being "run over" by the big bike hooligans.

Again, the economics would show that smaller bike riders are less likely to spend money on training or gear. While they fall at slower speeds, they fall a lot more often.

SO ... we need to look after our smaller brothers and sisters, isn't that part of the BIKER CODE? Something that all these fucking hooligans claim to OWN, and respect and pay lip service to, yet plainly don't. I digress, These 2 little quotes are to me, worth more than everything else (someone even called me a bulldog in a bear fight !!!) but 1 from a small bike rider, the other from a big bike rider, and it worked great. Not as many small bikes as last year (typical) but i'm hoping next year they bring their friends :)

"... for the first time actually felt that being on a smaller bike was not frowned upon ... "

" ... it was a really good idea keeping the smaller bikes out front where they were less at risk from the big bikes ... "